History Main / SurpriseDifficulty

** The Nancy Drew games in general tend to invoke this trope. Other infamous game puzzles include a ''massive'' nonogram puzzle in ''Shadow at the Water's Edge'' and a deceptively frustrating game called Fox and Geese in ''White Wolf of Icicle Creek.''

* Go away and try and get the achievements in the bowling practice games in ''VideoGame/WiiSports''. We'll be here when you get back... in a few months time of non-stop attempts.

* Another kids GameShow; ''Series/{{Eliminator}}''. The Easy questions were your typical kids TV fare. Your Normal questions were hard for a kids gameshow, but not too bad since the kids got to choose what difficulty level of question to answer based on the category...the hard questions, on the other hand, would be considered at the very least tricky on an adult gameshow. Arguably justified by the fact the top prize was a Safari, and kids could quit before answering hard pointers (which became almost a requirement to stay in the game), but to the point that adult gameshow fans have stated that they would only go for hard in categories they're extremely strong (...And, at that, reluctantly) in unless they absolutely have to - assuming they were on an adult adaptation of the show that kept the same (non-relative) question difficulty?

* National spelling bees.They're spelling bees. For kids. The contestants are all middle-schoolers. Wait, is... is that word even English? Is it even a ''word?'' Holy shit, ''did that thirteen-year-old kid actually get it right?!''

* Most games in the ''VideoGame/{{Atelier}}'' series are hit with this (except for those on [=PS2=], which are more traditional [=JRPGs=] and look the part). The series has a {{Moe}} aesthetic and tends towards SliceOfLife stories instead of epic, fate-of-the-world quests, but those expecting to have a relaxing time are in for a shock. If you don't master the complex ItemCrafting mechanics that the series revolves around, enemies will quickly become much more powerful than you can handle. And in many of these games, you also have a [[TimedMission time limit]] that prevents you from experimenting and messing around too much, or [[AntiGrinding relying on level grinding to make up for your equipment]]. The protagonists are all {{Item Cadd|y}}ies who deal most of their damage by throwing limited-supply bombs, which in most games are replenished by crafting (consuming more of your limited time). Once you found the right balance between crafting and exploring, the {{Superboss}}es are there to ruin your day, posing a NintendoHard challenge that will annihilate any player that doesn't have the best possible equipment.

* ''VideoGame/EliteBeatAgents'' and ''VideoGame/OsuTatakaeOuendan''. Who would have guessed a WidgetSeries about dancing secret agents and male cheerleaders with AnimeHair could be so ''difficult?'' (Curse you, Canned Heat!)

* The cute looks of ''VideoGame/MrGimmick'' for the NES will disguise its tricky enemy and level design. It is actually even worse due to your main weapon being pathetic, and the character having a ''very'' annoying inertia.

* ''VideoGame/ToyStory'': You'd expect something not too hard for a game based on a children's film. But the game takes NintendoHard to entirely new levels. Even with savestates, it's hard.
** It wasn't that easy on the Gameboy either.

* ''VideoGame/{{Shivers}} II: Harvest of Souls'' fits this trope more than NintendoHard, unlike its predecessor. Puzzles range from the dead simple "fit tiles into shape" puzzle, to the notorious "fixed moves you can make to match all colored marbles in their correct spots" puzzle in the Warehouse. There are more easier puzzles than harder ones, but I guarantee the "Solve Puzzle" feature will be used more than once on a first play.

** In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'', you can get reamed on ''easy'' if you're not prepared for some bosses or are just hitting the attack button (specially in the case of [[{{Superboss}} Sephiroth]] in the first game, who is probably the hardest boss, but is available way before it can be reasonably expected to beat him). This is especially true in the early game where you can only stock like three potions and don't know Cure, so healing is limited. This continues in all the later games too.

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' may have cute character designs, beautiful dungeons, and a pretty game interface full of relaxing blues and greens. Looks much easier on the eyes than Atlus's other big RPG franchise ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' so it can't be that hard, right? Haha, '''wrong.''' Beneath that surface lies a device-tossingly challenging RPG series filled with difficult {{Random Encounter}}s, even harder PreExistingEncounters called "[=FOEs=]" that ''will'' instantly destroy any party unlucky or stupid enough to run into one, a SkillScoresAndPerks system that's easy for those without critical thinking skills to mess up leaving them with poorly-built characters, and a brutal in-game economy that basically says "Oh, you're back from dungeon exploring? [[TraumaInn Inn healing]], one piece of new equipment, consumable supplies: Pick one." To put it this way: It is not uncommon for series beginners to go into the first floor of any given game ''and get party-wiped by a random encounter there''. This series will test the patience and determination of many gamers, from kids who think the game is suited for them to adults expecting the game to be a pushover. It is rather telling that it took ''four'' games for the developers to finally add an easy mode for those who like the concept of the game but don't want to put in the arduous amount of blood, sweat, and tears needed to complete the game at the series' traditional level of difficulty, ''especially'' its PostEndGameContent. Some even consider it to be harder than ''Shin Megami Tensei,'' which is saying a ''lot.''

* Visual novels are not the kind of game one would expect to have much difficulty with, but ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward'', the second game in the Zero Escape series, has some of the most mind-bogglingly difficult puzzles and challenges ever created in a video game. As if simply getting through the escape rooms normally isn't challenging enough, good luck trying to get those Golden Files ([[spoiler:and by extension, the secret bonus ending]]) without a guide. Thankfully, each level features an easy mode where the party offers hints for the player if they are having trouble.

!! Web comics

* '''''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'''''. It's a ''Sonic''-inspired platformer with a girly art style and adorable characters. And it has very few BottomlessPits, CollisionDamage, or MercyInvincibility, this should be a piece of cake! Wait, combat is a big chunk of gameplay? Well okay, simple enough. Wow, the levels are pretty long, and why is the second boss so hard? What do you mean most enemies are spamming BulletHell attacks? Turns out the invincibility goes both ways, and the aforementioned BulletHell attacks will shave off most of your health if you're lucky. And that's without getting into the masochistic Hard Mode, where enemies deal double damage, shields break in one pop, and the bosses are faster and completely randomized their strategies. And playing as Milla gives you a very awkward combat style, with half the health of the other characters. Yeah, hope you don't lose your marbles. This game was hard enough that it received patches that lowered the difficulty, and it is still this trope.

* Okay, even if ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy'' is '''never''' considered to be a game for kids, it still fits this trope at least because the difficulty may get really ''surprising'' at times, thanks to the fact that EverythingIsTryingToKillYou. Even the things that are not obvious killers. ''Yet.'' ''IWBTG'' deserves some sort of prize in that, despite over-the-top ridiculous difficulty being the one thing the game is known for, it ''still'' manages to be surprisingly harder than whatever you were expecting when you started.

** Most players just can't make it through world 8 of the original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros.'' The later worlds in general are filled with a larger number of enemies, wider pits that demand ''pitch'' perfect jumps not to fall into, and sound-based puzzles requiring guesswork and memorization to solve and progress through some levels.

* Another kids GameShow; ''{{Eliminator}}''. The Easy questions were your typical kids TV fare. Your Normal questions were hard for a kids gameshow, but not too bad since the kids got to choose what difficulty level of question to answer based on the category...the hard questions, on the other hand, would be considered at the very least tricky on an adult gameshow. Arguably justified by the fact the top prize was a Safari, and kids could quit before answering hard pointers (which became almost a requirement to stay in the game), but to the point that adult gameshow fans have stated that they would only go for hard in categories they're extremely strong (...And, at that, reluctantly) in unless they absolutely have to - assuming they were on an adult adaptation of the show that kept the same (non-relative) question difficulty?

* The kids GameShow ''Series/{{Knightmare}}'' qualifies, especially in earlier years, having 8 winners across 8 seasons, and no winners in seasons 1 and 3. To be fair, it was based on a desire to be a televised version of a mid-80s fantasy RPG, and as such a bit of NintendoHard is to be expected...but to the point that there are still debates, by fans of the show who are now adults, as to what the correct solution to some of the challenges was? And riddles that required surprisingly in-depth knowledge of Arthurian legend?
** One set of winners was even invited onto ''Series/BluePeter'', the [[LongRunner long-running]] MagazineShow that aired on the competing [=BBC1=]. ''That'' is how much of an event it was.

* This was the entire point of the show ''Trapped''. In each challenge, the contestants (known as Unfortunates) would attempt to complete a simple challenge, such as assembling a wall or filling a goblet with snow. However, in each round, a saboteur was chosen from among the remaining Unfortunates in secret with their goal being to mess with the challenge in some way, such as knocking down the tower when a blackout strikes or purposefully stepping on the ground to tip the goblet over. It's no surprise that some challenges were never beaten during the run of the show, especially in the two examples mentioned as they didn't end when the task was completed (instead, they had to be complete when the timer ran out).
** However, being a saboteur wasn't as easy as it sounds; they had to make sure the challenge was failed without the team realising who the saboteur was. If the team beat a challenge or if the saboteur was spotted, they were eliminated from the game (the same would happen to another Unfortunate if the saboteur succeeded at both of these).
* Teams on ''Series/TheAmazingRace'', even those who have been fans of the series for years, have finished the first leg in shock of how difficult the Race actually is. This could be in part that, while very little of the travel portions are shown on TV, teams can sometimes spend hours looking for flights to their next destination, and all the sitting around and waiting doesn't help either.
* National spelling bees.They're spelling bees. For kids. The contestants are all middle-schoolers. Wait, is... is that word even English? Is it even a ''word?'' Holy shit, ''did that thirteen-year-old kid actually get it right?!''
** The movie ''Spellbound'' and the book ''American Bee'' both establish just how much training it takes to get far in those things. Essentially, you have to develop monomania for words.

* Pretty much any Quiz and Stunt Game Show. Most think it can be a walk in the park to easily beat something you can trounce through easily with your skill and knowledge. It isn't, especially if they give out big money, especially in front of millions of viewers, and especially if those millions of viewers could put you in an EpicFail montage if you fail horribly. Naturally, these kinds of shows are made to be as difficult as possible so that the show doesn't have to constantly pay out the nose for prizes won every single day.
* Eating competitons count also. It sounds easy because all you have to do is eat, which is what many people can do effortlessly. However, the catch is that you have to eat the most food in a short amount of time. If you've eaten fast or so much food before, you know it's not comfortable to shove up food and swallow it quickly, with so much food in your stomach already.
* When you watch ''Series/{{Survivor}}'' on TV, it looks somewhat easy for what they're doing. I mean, a kid can do this, right? Well, when you watch it on the TV, you're well fed, well rested, see what's going on in the other camp, etc.
* ''Series/ThePriceIsRight'' catches many people off guard when they become contestants on the show. People tend to think the show is easy (probably because they can easily look up prices of products through Google as the show is playing on TV) and how they would never make the same stupid mistakes people on the show do. It isn't until you get to actually play the games on the show that you are under the pressure of guessing the general price range of a car with a limited amount of chances or trying to correctly guess the prices of four prizes in a strict time limit while running around on stage with the price tags in your hands. The more focused contestants tend to do better than the ones who let their excitement take control.
* ''Series/{{Wipeout 2008}}'' and ''Series/TakeshisCastle''. It looks ''really'' fun... but damn are they hard! These obstacle courses take a lot more stamina and luck than one thinks.
* ''Series/{{Password}}'' as well as its variants (''Plus'', ''Super'' and ''Million Dollar''). As lampshaded by Ludden, it's harder than it looks. Because you see the word written ''right in front of you'', many people accidentally read the word by mistake. This is very similar to the Stroop effect.
* Fast Money in ''Series/{{Family Feud}}''. Sure you can't help but laugh or facepalm when someone says a stupid answer to a question with an obvious number one answer. But when you actually play for yourself, you realize you only get ''four seconds'' per question. The tight time constraint can really make it hard to focus and come up with logical answers.
* Creator/DaveBarry once said that synchronized swimming is the easiest sport in the world. After being invited to a swim meet with them, he said that it was the hardest sport in the world.
* Open-book tests can be ''merciless'' if you're not prepared. Some are designed so there isn't enough time to skim notes and books for all the answers, while some compensate for the available notes by being so advanced or in-depth that even with them it's hard. Also, go ahead and ask a trademan how easy tests involving the National Building or Electrical Code can be, where finding some of the obscure or oddly worded code references can be downright ''brutal''.
* In-universe example in the ''WesternAnimation/SonicBoom'' episode, "[[Recap/SonicBoomS1E47FuzzyPuppyBuddies Fuzzy Puppy Buddies]]"; The Fuzzy Puppies board game is implied to be a lot more sophisticated and difficult to learn than the name and theme suggest. The playing pieces are adorable puppy figures that each have their own unique ability, they can be equipped with cute hats that also bestow different abilities, you need to have a balance of enforcers, decoys, and support puppies on your team to play it well, the playing board is a hex-grid, and a 20-sided die is involved.

* A RunningGag in the Literature/SherlockHolmes stories is Holmes making snide comments about the various creative liberties that Dr. Watson takes with his records of their cases, with Holmes feeling that they should be dry academic studies of his exploits in deductive logic rather than the mysteries, thrillers and adventures that Watson turns them into. "The Adventure of the Blanched Soldier" is one of the few tales narrated from Holmes's first-person perspective, apparently after Watson got a bit fed up with this and challenged Holmes to LetsSeeYouDoBetter, and it opens with Holmes conceding that taking one of his investigations and turning it into a narrative people are actually interested to read is actually harder than he gave Watson credit for.

* Many viewers of ''Series/TheMaskedSinger'' have claimed that the show looks extremely easy. All you have to is dress up and keep yourself hidden from the judges, right? Well, the costumes are known to be extremely hot and heavy (and many singers often ''dance'' as well) to the point where several singers have reported breathing issues. In addition, many of the costumes are also extremely hard to see out of as well.
* ''TabletopGame/DungeonPetz''. While its light, breezy theme and XtremeKoolLetterz title suggest that it would be a simple, kid-friendly game, it's actually a fairly heavy EuroGame.

* ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeon'' is similar - nice, kid-friendly license plus roguelike gameplay = at least it's merciful when you die, to the point of allowing for other players to rescue you like in most of the games labeled Mystery Dungeon.
** Correction: They can rescue you if they (or you) have a copy of that same generation (i.e Red and Blue Rescue Team) and the password given to you when you call for help (or whatever the games after Rescue Team used). If they (or you) don't, then you're gonna have to give up and return to base. Which makes you [[ContinuingIsPainful lose half of the items (which are randomly selected, by the way) and any money you had on you. Along with having to do the whole dungeon over again.]]
* ''VideoGame/TokyoMirageSessionsFE'', mechanically a crossover between ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' and ''Franchise/FireEmblem'', also has bright cartoonish graphics and a plot about [[IdolSinger Idol Singers]]... but don't let that fool you, the gameplay is as NintendoHard as you'd expect from its two parent franchises.
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy Fables: Chocobo Tales''. Really hard minigames (at least some of them) and TheComputerIsACheatingBastard during the card battle segments (specifically, it can see your hand, while you can only see the colors of its cards). To put it in more perspective, most of the non-plot-essential minigames (and a decent chunk of the plot-essential ones, too!) are {{Luck Based Mission}}s, The CPU in the card battles doesn't just know what cards you have, but what card you're ''going to play'', and those minigames that ''aren't'' [[LuckBasedMission entirely up to chance]] require [[NintendoHard Jedi-like reflexes to get a decent score on]]. Keep in mind that this game ''was'' marketed as LighterAndSofter than the mainstream ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII'', particularly to those who played the first hour or two of the game and thought "[[ItsEasySoItSucks The battles fight themselves? Where's the challenge in this?!]]" (or are going by word-of-mouth of someone who criticized the game for that reason). Then a few hours later you have added paradigms for each character that you will be required to switch to defeat enemies efficiently, followed by many encounters that will [[CurbstompBattle completely slaughter you]] if you don't know how to utilize said paradigms well.
* Website/GaiaOnline's ''[=zOMG=]'' is meant to be a casual MMO, and so it's fairly easy for the first few zones. But by the time you enter the Zen Gardens zone the difficulty starts ramping up. Charge Orbs (EXP) and Rings (Skills) both [[RandomlyDrops randomly drop]], [[EverythingTryingToKillYou only a few of the enemies in the game don't attack you on sight]], and the game is designed in such a way that if you don't form a crew, you probably aren't going to last very long. (Admittedly, the game is still in the testing phases, so this is subject to change). Not to mention some of the instanced levels such as The Hive World, The Gauntlet, and The Shallow Sea scale based on your CL, so that an enemy will always be the same relative level to you. This includes the final boss. [=zOMG=] is a very fun game featuring a vibrant colorful world, high levels of character customization, and a fun story, and it's easy to pick up. But do not mistake this for an easy game you can breeze right through. If you want that ScarfOfAsskicking, you've got to work for it!\\
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It gets worse; the way the final boss used to work, [[strike:if]] when your team of 6 got their asses handed to them, one could stay behind and keep the boss at its current health while the other five went back and restored their health and stamina. Then they were faced by the 107 missiles that the boss spawned while you were going through the run '''again'''. It wasn't really that good, since after three hours, people kind of had to leave to take a break from the last ten hours spent on the "casual" MMO. It wasn't really that effective, unless you were ''really'' fast, since the boss tended to restore health anyway, but at least you didn't have to start ''all'' the way over from the beginning of the boss fight...but wait, the new update changed it that if all six crew members are dazed, you're escorted out of the room! And this is all if your computer can handle Shallow Seas without lagging and dying, anyway. Given that you more than likely have to beat the first chapter to make it to the second chapter...people are going to be ''pissed''.

* The ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'' series of [=RPGs=] have artwork by Akira Toriyama and a general ''Pokémon''-style look to the settings, but the games are regarded as some of the hardest J[=RPGs=], though ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'' tends to be one of the easier installments (it's followed by the harder ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'', however). [[VideoGameRemake Remakes]] tend to tone down the difficulty a bit, though the games still stay challenging (just less so than the original versions).
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestXI'' plays a bit of a dirty trick here. After the credits roll, a lot of the enemies in the game suddenly grow very powerful, despite this being one of those rare games where the defeat of the final boss sticks post credits. In particular, the bird you zapped in the game's tutorial is back, and it is very, VERY angry. It does not care that you are strong enough to defeat the final boss, it is out for BLOOD!

* The ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER}}'' trilogy looks simple and cartoony, but all three games have some serious difficulty. ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'' consistently goes up in difficulty, although there's a couple of major spikes at Duncan's Factory (due mostly to its size) and Mt. Itoi (the enemies being way harder than anywhere else in the game). ''VideoGame/{{EarthBound|1994}}'', despite being much better than its predecessor, had random {{Difficulty Spike}}s throughout the game. ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'' finally settled for a consistent difficulty, and while the regular enemies aren't too bad, the bosses will mash you.
* ''VideoGame/PaperMarioTheThousandYearDoor'' definitely qualifies for this trope, despite everything looking like a cardboard cutout. While the first ''Paper Mario'' wasn't too difficult, provided you pay attention and learn the game mechanics, this game ramps up the difficulty quite a bit. Bosses having tons of HP and having at least one attack that can do massive damage to the party, being forced at one point to go alone when [[spoiler: Doopliss steals Mario's body and his allies]], and enemies inflicting nasty status ailments such as Freeze, Sleep, and Stop, which can end your game if you're not careful.
** Similarily, the ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigi'' [=RPGs=] (except ''Superstar Saga'') were pretty deceptive about their difficulty. They have bright, ''Mario''-typical graphics, but the enemies and bosses can get ''very'' deadly if you don't master the battle-mechanics of dodging and countering attacks.
** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'' takes this up even further. You thought this was going to be about the same difficulty as the last games? Think again. This one is much harder still (although you can go easy mode if you lose a fight). For example, some attacks need to be dodged with the circle pad now and attacks can hit ''much'' harder. And the giant bosses? Not basically glorified cutscenes this time around, with the second or third giant boss of ''Dream Team'' being on par with the last two from ''Bowser's Inside Story.''
*** For extra fun, try Hard Mode. No retrying fights, cap of ten on every item, shorter windows for action commands, and yes, the Giant Battles get harder too, to the point that the rematches in the late-game Battle Arena demand absolute perfection just to clear them.
** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPaperJam'' drops the difficulty a little bit when compared to the previous game but it is still difficult. This is mostly due to the addition of a third character who, unlike the two from [[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiPartnersInTime the second game]], is completely independent of the two Mario Bros. and makes dodging attacks much harder, especially attacks that hit multiple characters.
* The ''{{Website/Neopets}}'' RPG, ''VideoGame/NeoQuest''. You really wouldn't expect an [=RPG=] based on cute animals to be so difficult, especially since the first dungeon is so disarmingly easy.
** ''[=NeoQuest=] II''[='s=] difficulty takes a turn for the nasty as you get closer and closer to Meridell Castle and Ramtor's Tower. And Meridell is the ''first world'' (of 5).
* ''Videogame/FiveNightsAtFuckboys''. You wouldn't expect a crude, foul mouthed and raunchy parody of ''Videogame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'' to be difficult, but the Mooks can hit pretty hard, there's an AbsurdlyLowLevelCap, the bosses can be hard even at maximum level and are frequently [[DamageSpongeBoss meaty ones as well]], and this isn't even factoring in different difficulty levels.

* ''VideoGame/EtrianOdyssey'' may have cute character designs, beautiful dungeons, and a pretty game interface full of relaxing blues and greens. Looks much easier on the eyes than Atlus's other big RPG franchise ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' so it can't be that hard, right? Haha, '''wrong.''' Beneath that surface lies a device-tossingly challenging RPG series filled with difficult {{Random Encounter}}s, even harder PreExistingEncounters called "[=FOEs=]" that ''will'' instantly destroy any party unlucky or stupid enough to run into one, a SkillScoresAndPerks system that's easy for those without critical thinking skills to mess up leaving them with poorly-built characters, and a brutal in-game economy that basically says "Oh, you're back from dungeon exploring? [[TraumaInn Inn healing]], one piece of new equipment, consumable supplies: Pick one." To put it this way: It is not uncommon for series beginners to go into the first floor of any given game ''and get party-wiped by a random encounter there''. This series will test the patience and determination of many gamers, from kids who think the game is suited for them to adults expecting the game to be a pushover. It is rather telling that it took ''four'' games for the developers to finally add an easy mode for those who like the concept of the game but don't want to put in the arduous amount of blood, sweat, and tears needed to complete the game at the series' traditional level of difficulty, ''especially'' its PostEndGameContent. Some even consider it to be harder than ''Shin Megami Tensei,'' which is saying a ''lot.''
* ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky The Legend Of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC]]'' has a bright and colourful artstyle with chibi sprites. And its prequel, and sequels, aren't that difficult, so it can't be that bad, right? ''Wrong''. The game is tough even on Normal, but Hard multiplies enemy stats to such an extent that most people only recommend it for NewGamePlus runs. It's common for players to spend dozens of attempts before beating it, and on Nightmare the Prologue's boss is generally considered {{Unwinnable}} if you don't use your resources in a very specific way. Many bosses [[PuzzleBoss use specific tactics that are designed to screw with you]], abuse of the Turn Order Bonuses is required to outlast many chest monsters/sidequest bosses, and [[BossInMookClothing just about everything on the Liber Ark wants you dead]].
* ''VideoGame/NocturneRebirth'' qualifies less for its graphics (though no enemy has a horrifying appearance by JRPG standards and some are quite cute) and more for the outward appearance of its battle system. At first glance, the battle system makes the game look like a typical ATB experience that won't be too different from early ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games or "cookie-cutter" UsefulNotes/RPGMaker games. This turns out not to be the case due to how the game adds several unusual mechanics and reinvents some of the traditional RPG mechanics, forcing experienced RPG players to adapt and learn. Additionally, the protagonist is considered a powerful vampire in the story, but the party will still struggle against bosses due to how healing is balanced so that slow HP regeneration is easy while instant HP recovery is difficult, making it hard to stay alive in long battles.
* Most games in the ''VideoGame/{{Atelier}}'' series are hit with this (except for those on [=PS2=], which are more traditional [=JRPGs=] and look the part). The series has a {{Moe}} aesthetic and tends towards SliceOfLife stories instead of epic, fate-of-the-world quests, but those expecting to have a relaxing time are in for a shock. If you don't master the complex ItemCrafting mechanics that the series revolves around, enemies will quickly become much more powerful than you can handle. And in many of these games, you also have a [[TimedMission time limit]] that prevents you from experimenting and messing around too much, or [[AntiGrinding relying on level grinding to make up for your equipment]]. The protagonists are all {{Item Cadd|y}}ies who deal most of their damage by throwing limited-supply bombs, which in most games are replenished by crafting (consuming more of your limited time). Once you found the right balance between crafting and exploring, the {{Superboss}}es are there to ruin your day, posing a NintendoHard challenge that will annihilate any player that doesn't have the best possible equipment.
* Even by the standards of ''Atelier'', the SpinOff title ''VideoGame/NelkeAndTheLegendaryAlchemistsAteliersOfTheNewWorld'' took many players by surprise with its complexity and challenge. The game's marketing led many to expect a Facebook-style CasualGame driven more by FanService than actual gameplay. In truth, it's a deep and complex town-building simulator where the goals you have to meet are sometimes brutally difficult (especially the eighth and ninth missions, which have sent many new players towards the bad ending). And while the most recent ''Atelier'' games before its release had removed the TimedMission aspect, it's back in full force here.
* ''Monster Girl Quest!'' might be a series of H-games, but the gameplay is genuinely challenging, especially on higher difficulties. The original trilogy has relatively simple combat (it's more of a visual novel/RPG hybrid), but many of the battles require the player to conserve their SP, know when to heal and which [[StatusBuff spirits]] to use. ''Monster Girl Quest! Paradox RPG'' takes this further, with a much more complex combat system[[note]]To give a brief overview, there's now a system of jobs and a separate system of races, an enormous range of equipment, a wide variety of elements, several dozen status effects, and multiple types of instant death. There's lots of interactions among these things, like each race having its own set of elemental and status resistances.[[/note]], more difficulty levels and even an entire BonusDungeon, the Labyrinth of Chaos, for those players looking for extra challenge. At higher difficulties and/or in the Labyrinth of Chaos, enemies can one-shot unwary players while being quite tough to kill themselves.
* ''VideoGame/BugFables'' is a cutesy for the most part, all-ages game with a ''VideoGame/PaperMario''-inspired storybook look to it. It also asks quite a bit from the player, such as action commands generally being faster than the ones from its inspiration, basic enemy encounters being able to beat the unprepared, strategy with managing the trio's strengths and weaknesses, and difficult side-content, [[ManEatingPlant the Devourer]] especially being considered one of the hardest bosses in the game. This is all ''without'' equipping the Hard Mode Medal. Much of the equipment also comes with some sort of tradeoff, so carelessly dumping all stats in to Medal Points and bulking up on them with no strategy is not an option to breeze through the game.

* Similar to the ''VideoGame/{{Audiosurf}}'' example below, ''VideoGame/SpaceInvaders Infinity Gene'' can generate different stages based on whatever song you selected for your [=iPhone=], leading to stages that are easier or harder than they look. That, being a smartphone game, the cramped screens makes it even harder.
* ''VideoGame/BeatHazard'' can generate some surprisingly difficult sessions from certain audio files.
* Play modern BulletHell games for long enough and you'll be in for a shock when you play older, "classical" ShootEmUp games. Fans who are used to BulletHell may attempt older shmups, expecting the difficulty to be cakewalk due to the lower bullet count, only to get sniped in the [[HitboxDissonance ship-sized]] [[AvertedTrope hitbox]] by fast bullets into a quick GameOver; ''VideoGame/{{Raiden}}'' is notorious for "sniper" enemies that can kill the player with almost no advance warning. Labyrinthine level designs with DeadlyWalls, like those in ''VideoGame/RType'' can also be very difficult for players accustomed to the open, wall-less stages of most bullet hell games. Last but not least, many older shmups have {{Check Point}}s rather than respawning in place, as well as depriving you of most or all of your powerups upon death; while dying in ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}}'' or other BulletHell games typically only results in a slight drop (if any) in power alongside the life loss and scoring enhancements (if you're playing for score), dying even once in ''VideoGame/{{Gradius}}'', for example, means losing all of your remaining lives in the 30 seconds if you do not have the skill to pull through wherever you just died in spite of your [[ContinuingIsPainful total loss of powerups]]. Even the BulletHell entries from long-running "classical" shooter series tend to carryover those fast bullet velocities, depriving many players at the hardest settings possible.

* ''VideoGame/RugratsRoyalRansom'' on Reptar Tough difficulty is ''insanely'' hard at many points, to the point where it'd be hard to expect an ''adult'' to beat it easily, much less a small child.
* ''VideoGame/CookingMama'' appears as a very cutesy easy game... that is until you try to get gold medals in every recipe. Midway through the game it becomes almost impossible, since you have to be PERFECT in every step and even missing the most insignificant part of a minigame results into a silver medal. There's also a good share of ''FakeDifficulty'': play it too much and you'll get hungry!
* The ''Anime/PrettyCure'' games for the GBA are, well, ''Pretty Cure'' games, presumably expected to be played by little girls. The first one's a platforming TeamworkPuzzleGame, starting out mind-numbingly easy and getting more complex as a fairly reasonable rate...and it continues doing so ''way'' further than you might expect. And then, when you beat the game, you unlock another full set of levels as a "hard mode" of sorts, where the rise in difficulty continues almost-uninterrupted (level 51 is easy, as there's really no way they could have made level 1 hard). Somewhere in the seventies, you ''will'' begin to cry.

%%* The later levels of {{Franchise/Barbie}} for the PC.
%%** Not to mention the NES game.

* ''VideoGame/RobotUnicornAttack''. It's [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin just what you'd expect]] in terms of theme, but if your reflexes are a quarter second too late you're [[OneHitPointWonder done for]].
* ''VideoGame/TheSecretIslandOfDrQuandary'' is an EdutainmentGame aimed at grade school kids. The "Tax Factor" minigame requires enough algebra to stump adults regularly, unless you play as B. Ginner and invite EasyModeMockery.
* Go away and try and get the achievements in the bowling practice games in ''VideoGame/WiiSports''. We'll be here when you get back... in a few months time of non-stop attempts.
* ''VideoGame/NintendoLand''. If you thought it would be easy because it's a CasualVideoGame, DON'T. The first one or two levels on any given solo or team attraction are usually a cakewalk. After that, good luck. These games will hand your ass to you several times over. And ''then'' there are the {{Brutal Bonus Level}}s... To give you an example of how bad they get, in the [[Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda Legend Of Zelda: Battle Quest]] attraction, [[spoiler:Ganon is a DegradedBoss]].
* ''VideoGame/WinnieThePoohsHomeRunDerby''. It's Winnie the Pooh batting against his woodland friends... who throw incredibly fast, erratic, hard-to-hit balls. After the first few rounds the pitches start explicitly breaking the laws of physics. It's hailed as one of the toughest sports games ever.

* ''VideoGame/LovelyPlanet'' may look cheerful and has visuals often compared to ''VideoGame/KatamariDamacy'', but it's also a challenging First-Person Shooter that requires good aim, reflexes, first-person platforming skills, and planning in order to clear levels.
* The cartoony appearance of ''VideoGame/KerbalSpaceProgram'', and the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54fDJKgjUrs zany hijinks]] in many of the advertisements, can leave new players unprepared for the game's complicated controls and counterintuitive physics. Just getting into orbit around your home planet, a trivial task in most space games, is surprisingly difficult--an actual astronaut and engineer [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHjaqeeoAKk tried to do it]] with help from an experienced player, and ''still'' failed the first couple of times. Exploring the whole solar system is, needless to say, quite challenging.
* ''VideoGame/ClubPenguin'':
** The ''Bean Counters'' minigame. All you do is catch bags of coffee beans and place them on the other side. Easy, right? ''Wrong.'' By the time you reach levels [[FourIsDeath 4]] and 5, the game takes a '''huge''' DifficultySpike as [[AnvilOnHead anvils,]] flowerpots, and ''fish'' rain heavily upon you as you attempt to unload the coffee truck.
** The hidden candy mode has extra [[HarderThanHard Expert and Extreme modes]], and also reveals that Hard is the ''[[NintendoHard easiest difficulty]]'' in the game.

* The art-style for ''VideoGame/TheBattleCats'' is cartoony, you control an army of cute cats and characters who fight other enemies with said cartoony art-style and the Google Play Store even lists this game in the "Casual" genre. How hard can it be? To keep it brief, if you don't use the correct cats and don't create a solid strategy, then you will be overrun by the many, '''many''' stages that use and, in some of them, spam DemonicSpiders, most of which are [[DegradedBoss Degraded Bosses]] who usually avert VillainForgotToLevelGrind, like no tomorrow.
* ''VideoGame/{{Overcooked}}'' may have a cute and cartoony art style and easy to pick-up controls, but easy is it not. You're constantly trying to send out orders as quickly as possible. Between prep work, cooking, sending out dishes, and then cleaning the dirty plates (not to mention stage gimmicks!), this turns a simple time-management cooking game into a chaotic co-op experience that is ''demanding'' with coordination between you and your friends.
* Anyone jumping into ''VideoGame/LittleWitchNobeta'' expecting a cute little adventure with cute little girls will be in for a rude awakening when this [[SoulsLikeRPG Souls-like]] ThirdPersonShooter hybrid proceeds to beat this cute little witch up like a ragdoll. And while the common {{Mook}}'s are bad enough, the bosses are downright sadistic with their challenge that require a precise understanding of the games systems to beat, and that's before taking [[ThatOneBoss Monica]] into account.

* ''VideoGame/SuperMonkeyBall'' features cute monkeys in hamster balls. It's also NintendoHard on Expert mode, especially the first game with its stages that force you to maneuver the ball across curved paths that's half as wide as the diameter of the ball. And on a timer that's never longer than 60 seconds per floor (level). And to get HundredPercentCompletion and unlock Master, you need to complete all of Expert (50 floors) and Expert Extra (10 more floors) [[ContinuingIsPainful without using a continue]]. In the first game, you also only get 3 lives (plus one for [[LawOfOneHundred every 100 bananas]] you collect) before you have to continue.
* ''VideoGame/KulaWorld''. Roll a beachball to the end of a 2.5D level, jumping, avoiding enemies and collecting keys along the way. Seems simple enough. There are MANY levels (154) and they get harder as they go along. The fact you can only save every 5 levels doesn't help.
* ''VideoGame/ZackAndWiki'' looks like a kid-friendly adventure game that stars a young pirate and his pet monkey. It's actually an insanely tough puzzle game. Rues the parent who purchased this one for their six-year-old.
* ''VideoGame/{{Lemmings}}''. By the middle of the Taxing section your brain will ache. Mayhem will have you punching walls.
** The sequel ''Oh No More Lemmings!'' is more of the same, even harder, and with a much sharper difficult curve (the levels suddenly jump from stupidly easy to stupidly hard and don't let up).
** ''Lemmings 2''. We have given you a hopper, two canoeists and a pole-vaulter. The exit is on the other side of a solid wall. Good luck.
* The fan-created ''VideoGame/PortalPrelude''. ''VideoGame/{{Portal}}'' was fun and funny, and lots of people downloaded it out of love for the original game. What the developers didn't bother to mention was that it should have been named ''Portal: Makes NintendoHard Look Like A Cakewalk''. There was so much [[http://www.portalprelude.com/2008/10/about-difficulty.php outrage]] that the developer begrudgingly released a patch that makes the mod slightly easier. Despite continued requests to make the mod easier for everyone, he has said he will not reduce the difficulty anymore.
* ''VideoGame/TrashPanic'' is a cartoonish game where you smash garbage off of other garbage to break it up so the bin doesn't fill up. Simple right? The game's own demo has a time limit that obscures how tough the game is by ending the run early. However, actually finishing the levels of the full version is brutally hard; the garbage just keeps coming. You can burn garbage (bad for your Eco score), but if you burn or otherwise destroy valuable trash, your bin will overflow with penalty garbage. Not to mention the boss garbage, but even the Sweets (beginner) course which doesn't feature it is still pretty hard, even though the game has no limit on continues.
* ''VideoGame/{{Shivers}} II: Harvest of Souls'' fits this trope more than NintendoHard, unlike its predecessor. Puzzles range from the dead simple "fit tiles into shape" puzzle, to the notorious "fixed moves you can make to match all colored marbles in their correct spots" puzzle in the Warehouse. There are more easier puzzles than harder ones, but I guarantee the "Solve Puzzle" feature will be used more than once on a first play.

* ''VideoGame/ChipsChallenge'': You'd think a game that looks like it was created in 10 minutes with MS Paint wouldn't be all that hard. Then you get past the tutorial levels, and just like that the game turns into the puzzle equivalent of PlatformHell. Fan-generated level packs are even worse, as they pulling off stunts that are usually considered ''illegal'' (like hiding traps and objects ''underneath floor tiles'').

* ''VideoGame/AngryBirds'' is a game where you fling cute birds into structures to topple them over and squash cute pigs inside. Good luck getting a three-star ranking, you'll need it.
* ''VideoGame/PanelDePon'', ''[[VideoGame/PanelDePon Tetris Attack]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/PanelDePon Pokémon Puzzle League]]''. Cute characters, relaxing music, a simple enough concept...and then Hard mode throws you for a loop. Even that's nothing compared to the hidden HarderThanHard difficulty. It's also known for one of the highest skill floors in all of puzzle games, demanding that you not only know how to chain but also to actively extend your chain while it is still popping off.
* ''VideoGame/{{Pushmo}}'': Push blocks in and out to get to the top. It sounds simple but some puzzles are deviously hard.
* ''VideoGame/CandyCrushSaga'': A colorful little game about matching candies that starts off as so easy a kid can play it...and then progresses to more and more infuriating puzzles that seem to have been devised by Satan himself. Double-layered jelly and chocolate squares? The. Devil's. Work. This is because it's an AllegedlyFreeGame and the developers want you to [[BribingYourWayToVictory spend money to advance]].
** This carries over to other games made by the same developers. For example, ''Farm Heroes Saga'', a game with cute fruits and farm animals, also have way too many {{Luck Based Mission}}s or levels with sadistically unreasonable goals that are nigh impossible to fulfill .
* ''VideoGame/{{Dweep}}'' is a colorful, cute, non-violent game about an adorable furball. It also requires some ''seriously'' heavy-duty thinking--especially in the expansion pack levels.
* ''VideoGame/NancyDrew: The Curse of Blackmoor Manor''. Oh, it's a licensed game marketed to tweens, it must be pathetic...Wait, what's that noise? Did the walls just ''move''? And why are there [[DoorRoulette six doors out of the room]]? ''(takes another step)'' Oh, God, it's moving again! ''(looks back)'' Wait, that's not the door I entered through! Where the f*k am I supposed to go?!
** The Nancy Drew games in general tend to invoke this trope. Other infamous game puzzles include a ''massive'' nonogram puzzle in ''Shadow at the Water's Edge'' and a deceptively frustrating game called Fox and Geese in ''White Wolf of Icicle Creek.''

* ''VideoGame/TheUnfinishedSwan'' has the forest, which is suddenly [[BlackoutBasement very dark]] and has spiders that will kill you if you [[DarknessEqualsDeath aren't near any light]]. Aside from drowning or falling into a pit, this is the only other way you can die.

* [[RuleOfThree Aww]], look at the cute little jelly in ''VideoGame/{{Jelly No Puzzle}}''! It's small and cubic and smiley and adorable! And it will constantly be marooned off from its friends on your quest to make it join up with all other jellies of the same colour. This time, the undo button only undoes a few moves before disappearing.
* ''VideoGame/LogicalJourneyOfTheZoombinis'' is an educational game for kids, but the puzzles on harder difficulty levels can leave even grown-ups frustrated, especially the Very, Very Hard versions of [[ThatOneLevel Hotel Dimensia and Lion's Lair]].
* The cute characters and vibrant settings in ''VideoGame/PuyoPuyo'' look like they came right out of a cartoon aimed at little kids, especially once Creator/{{SEGA}} took over. Make no mistake, however--not only is the single-player usually of a pretty high difficulty[[note]]A particular Puyo-themed boss in ''VideoGame/SonicMania'' had the AI's competence turned way down, and it is still infamous for its difficulty[[/note]], the series has gained quite a competitive scene, and there is a serious push for its presence in ''[=eSports=]''. Many players will go online, expect a fun time, only to realize that, relative to the opponent who's about to initiate a 12-chain, ''they have no idea what the hell they are doing''. And that such opponents are ''the usual fare'' in ranked modes.

* ''Mickey's Racing Adventure'' for the GBC. To fight a boss, you had to solve a sliding block puzzle with AT LEAST over one hundred moves required and a time limit. Add on rubberbanding and other cheating, the mixing of everybody's most hated game styles from the "flip around the track tiles while the train is on the track so it doesn't crash" to "dig up blade of grass to find coins" to Pac-Man converted into super mega hard mode with the possibility of crushing to attempting 3D tracks in 2D, endless {{MacGuffin}}s, glitches, unavoidable obstacles, not even to mention some of the worst graphics and writing in any game. And this is supposed to be a kid's game.

* ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' in general falls under this trope. A racing game with bright and colorful graphics and a wacky cast of characters will lull players in a false sense of "This is so damn easy and childish" until they encounter the AI pulling the best items out of their ass time and time again to screw the player over or playing with people who are actually really good at the game and know how to use items effectively against others. The fact that much of it is FakeDifficulty due to RubberBandAI doesn't help.

* ''Videogame/CrashTeamRacing'' is even more difficult than ''VideoGame/MarioKart'' due to its complex boost mechanics[[labelnote:*]]Where in Mario Kart all you have to do is drift for a while to boost, in CTR you have to hit the opposite button with the correct timing in order to gain a boost, up to three times per drift. Wait too long and you won't boost at all, but you need to get as close to the end as possible for the largest boost. And if you drift too long without boosting, you'll spin out entirely. So, that adds some challenge, but isn't too bad right? Well, there are also "reserves". As you boost, you'll fill reserves that allow you to maintain your speed until you run out. Including the speed from turbo pads and super turbo pads that are faster than a drift boost. So, to perform optimally, you need to keep your reserves full ''all the time'', which means you basically need to always be drifting and chaining together perfectly timed boosts, while avoiding hazards and power-ups.[[/labelnote]], though fortunately the AI isn't too fast, and they can't use some of the more powerful items like the Warp Orb or Clock. The bosses, however, are a different story. Pinstripe and Oxide in particular are very fast and are constantly spamming power-ups, making it very difficult to catch back up if they get ahead of you. Oxide even [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard jumps the gun]] at the beginning of the race, preventing you from getting an early lead! And you ''will'' need to master the game to beat the time trial ghosts[[labelnote:*]] Recordings of highly skilled developer runs through the time trials on each track with no power-ups to help you. [[/labelnote]] and earn platinum relics[[labelnote:*]] A mode similar to time trial with crates placed all around the track you need to hit to freeze the timer. Sapphire and gold relics aren't too hard, but platinum usually requires you to miss no crates while maintaining speed at all times. [[/labelnote]]. [[VideoGame/CrashTeamRacingNitroFueled The remake]] adds even more challenge, adding a hard AI that can keep up with highly skilled players, and introducing online play where you'll often find yourself up against masters of the game, not to mention that there are now extra DLC tracks that are often challenging in their own right.[[labelnote:*]]Even Gingerbread Joyride, a festive, jolly food-made track, is tough since it has tight turns, two shortcuts that require boosting to pull off, and [[DemonicSpider two sumo jellies]] that get in the way.[[/labelnote]]

* ''VideoGame/DefenseOfTheAncients'': Oh that ranged carry (often Drow Ranger) looks ''so'' easy. All they have to do is just right click and boom. Then you get surprised as you're subsequently trashed with them. Compared to ''VideoGame/LeagueOfLegends'', carries in ''Defense of the Ancients'' and ''VideoGame/HeroesOfNewerth'' are ''MORE'' item-dependent.
** Drow Ranger gets more damage if no enemy heroes are 400 units near of her. Considering there are alot of items to initiate and alot of heroes than can close the distance, this can be very hard to keep the distance. You can prevent that with a Shadow Blade of Blink Dagger, but dusts and sentries will spot you and Blink Dagger is immediately on cooldown for 3 seconds everytime an enemy hero hits you.
* RealTimeStrategy games in general have a very common bit of Surprise Difficulty when players used to multiplayer jump into a game against AI bots. Not even counting [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard explicitly coded "enhancements"]], game-controlled AI is able to multitask and micromanage in ways that no human could match. So, maybe the computer isn't coded to explicitly know the most efficient build to ramp up to the top-tier units and instead ends up spamming mid-tier units that are typically skipped because they're AwesomeButImpractical; then all of a sudden these things that are skipped because they need such fine-tuning that they distract you from other priorities perfectly synch up abilities and you end up with an entire army/team locked down, out of power or outright dead, and those impractical units go on to crush your base before you can rebuild.

* ''[[Videogame/HarmoKnight HarmoKnight]]'' is meant to be a fun, happy game for the UsefulNotes/Nintendo3DS. You'll swipe through each world with ease, but once you reach [[LethalLavaLand World 7]] and [[LevelInTheClouds World 8]], you might even want to throw your 3DS out the window. (Don't think we like you, [[spoiler:[[BrutalBonusLevel Final Trial]]]]!)
* ''VideoGame/PopNMusic''. A colorful, cute-looking game on the outside. It's not for kids, though not for the usual reason: it's a NintendoHard RhythmGame with its share of [[ThatOneBoss Those One Bosses]] on the inside.
** The difficulty of 9-key and 5-key have crept up over the years, but they're far from murderous, especially compared to IIDX's equivalents. EX, however, was made to kick butt and take names. Attempt it without lots of dedicated practice, and you get exactly what you deserve.
** The "Toy Contemporary" [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KbiONkRQK28 boss song]] is quite [[SoundtrackDissonance un-boss-like]], as well. It's basically a circus charge with kitten meowing thrown in.

* ''VideoGame/WeCheer'' as well. People won't expect a motion-controlled dancing game to be difficult. Don't forget to calibrate the controls (some have), but even then, the game only goes easy on the first few songs.
** ''VideoGame/JustDance'' may count as well for the harder routines. People think the games are easy as all you have to do is to copy the dancer's moves. The harder routines feature very strenous and fast-paced dance moves ordinary people can't pull off easily.
* ''VideoGame/RhythmHeaven''. Think ''VideoGame/WarioWare'', only all the (mini)games are rhythm songs. Seems easy, huh? Wrong. Some of the games will prove to be pretty hard, and some requirements are INSANE. On some stages, getting as few as two misses results in a fail for the stage. Not a D grade, not some mild ridicule, absolute, abject failure. Oh, and the visuals never match the rhythm closely enough, so you MUST rely on the music or you will fail. Luckily, you can skip them all if you want after three tries, and you'll pass most games after some practice.
* ''VideoGame/DanceDanceRevolution''.
** Hottest Party still caught a few gamers off guard who thought they knew the series and didn't read the instructions. And even the instructions don't tell you exactly how you're supposed to swing the Wii Mote and trying to figure out what do do with your hands easily messes up your steps. Added gimmick steps didn't help either.
** Songs by jun as of recent. Yes, Silver Dream may be a pretty happy song, until you realize that it's a level ten boss song on expert.
** Disney DDR. Should be a cakewalk, right? Admittedly, the songs aren't ''that'' terrible, but some of them ("Nobody's Perfect" by Miley Cyrus comes to mind) seem to be a lot harder than you'd expect from a Disney-themed DDR game.
** Some first-time players have a perception that, since [=DDR=] doesn't punish you for hitting an arrow when not prompted, that must mean you can get a "good enough" score by [[PacManFever randomly stomping around not paying attention to the screen]] and are surprised when it doesn't work. The technical explanation for this is there is a large "Almost" timing window that triggers if you hit an arrow with poor timing; even if the arrow is hit again, the poorly-timed hit (which drains health) has already applied.

* ''VideoGame/RockBand''.
** For guitar, you expect songs like [[Music/JudasPriest ''Painkiller'']] to be difficult, but you probably won't be expecting to get your ass kicked by songs like [[Music/MileyCyrus "Can't Be Tamed"]] or [[Music/{{Orianthi}} "According to You"]], which, despite being radio-friendly pop songs, have blazing guitar solos that rival the harder HeavyMetal tracks.
** For vocals, many pop songs in Nightmare Tier get this sort of reaction. "[[Music/TheBeachBoys Good Vibrations]]" is a feel good surf rock song that makes you sing in a three octave range within a strange key amid bizarre lilting staccato-legato rhythm and almost no accompaniment. Then it slows down, makes you speak for a few measures, speeds up to a different speed and changes keys. Have fun!
** ''VideoGame/LegoRockBand''. Just because it's family friendly doesn't mean it isn't difficult; while they tried to cherry-pick easier songs to an extent and lowered the thresholds of the difficulty tiers to compensate, the charting standards are no different from the original game, so the solos to, for example, "The Final Countdown" and "In Too Deep" don't hold anything back on the Expert difficulty. To take the point further, one achievement asks the player to get 100% on the former's guitar solo on Expert, which is many times harder than any of the achievements in ''Rock Band 2''.

* ''VideoGame/VibRibbon''. Take Parappa's gameplay, and add in the "choose your own tunes" aspect of ''VideoGame/{{Audiosurf}}''. Therein lies the potential for some ''truly'' nightmarish levels. Did we mention that obstacles in ''Vib Ribbon'' tend to overlap when they scroll down the highway?

* Ooh, ''VideoGame/GitarooMan''! It has all the things we've come to expect from an [=iNiS=] game: an odd premise, some awesome music...and hand-crushing difficulty. This game ''will'' give you thumb cramps on the harder levels.
* A song-specfic example: ''VideoGame/SoundVoltex'' gives us "[[Music/{{Vocaloid}} Nyan Cat]]". In ''Sound Voltex II'', it gets an [[HarderThanHard Infinite]] chart. The chart is rated a '''15''', the highest difficulty rating in the game at the time of the chart's release[[note]]the maximum level has increased to 20 since[[/note]].
* ''VideoGame/HatsuneMikuProjectDIVA'' stars Music/{{Vocaloid}} Hatsune Miku, one of the best-known {{moe}} icons, and her friends. Despite the cute characters, however, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VabLZHZPgvc This]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rto9SKdrE04 game]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qUVyFSOb2WA is]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EKeXb5hYrQk HARD]]. Of course, the difficulty [[FridgeBrilliance makes sense]] when you consider that as {{Synthetic Voice Actor}}s, Vocaloids are not bound by physical constraints and can effortlessly sing songs that would be impossible for humans.
* ''VideoGame/RhythmThiefAndTheEmperorsTreasure'' is made by the same people as ''Project DIVA'' but a lot more story-based. Its gameplay is similar to the (also very tough) Rhythm Heaven series, only you are not penalized for being slightly off. Yet, it is still ridiculously difficult, as the designers love putting in tempo changes, random gameplay switches mid-stage, visual cues that you barely have time to react to, and rather lengthy memorization sequences that you then have to do to the music's rhythm.
* ''VideoGame/{{Aikatsu}}'' is easier than most examples above, but the game itself is not a cakewalk despite the cute characters and lighthearted premise, especially for fans who watched the anime adaptation first. The just-as-strict timing judgements and quick timing events will make careless players fail. It gets worse with ''VideoGame/AikatsuPhotoOnStage'', its mobile game adaptation with gameplay and difficulty on par with ''VideoGame/{{Jubeat}}''.
* ''VideoGame/{{maimai}}'', also known as "that washing machine game", has cutesy visuals and mascots, especially in entries made from 2018 onwards with the cafe mascots, but it is also known for its very high skill ceiling that can take a few years to reach.

* The cute looks of ''VideoGame/MrGimmick'' for the NES will disguise its tricky enemy and level design. It is actually even worse due to your main weapon being pathetic, and the character having a ''very'' annoying inertia.

* ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot''. Especially, [[Videogame/CrashBandicoot1996 the first one]]. It's ostensibly for kids and the other games in the series are more manageable... but not the first one. Even if you manage to get through 2-3 levels without running out of lives (you start with 4 every time you load) AND find all the "Tawna tokens" in the level, you only have one shot at a bonus level to even be able to ''save'' or ''find out your level password''. The physics fall into DamnYouMuscleMemory, even (or especially) for people who have played the other games in the series. The lack of analog control also makes fine movement very, very difficult at times.
** Collecting gems requires you to destroy every single destructible crate in the level. In the first game, some levels require you to fully explore two paths in order to do this. Have fun backtracking with very little view of what's ahead! You also won't know until you finish the level whether you missed any. Good luck. Oh, and you have to finish the entire level without dying.
** ''[[Videogame/CrashBandicoot2CortexStrikesBack Crash 2]]'' is only more forgiving in that they removed the "finish the level without dying" gem condition. To make up for it, the developers kept everything in from the first one...''and added more''. Branching paths? Have fun exploring them [[BlackoutBasement in the dark]], with bottomless pits everywhere! Secret levels? Be prepared to not only endure {{Platform Hell}} to get to them, but the levels themselves are brutal. Backtracking? Of course - and let's throw in a few levels where you not only have to backtrack, but you have to backtrack ''without dying''. {{Have A Nice Death}}!
** ''[[VideoGame/CrashBandicoot3Warped Warped]]'' eased up on difficulty a bit, but still has plenty of challenges to throw at you. Of note is the new Time Trial mode, requiring you to finish the level within a certain amount of time to win a relic. Getting the Sapphire and even Gold isn't too tough, but if you want the Platinum relic you'll virtually have to speedrun the level.
** ''VideoGame/CrashBandicootNSaneTrilogy'' mercifully made some difficult challenges a little easier, such as removing the no deaths requirement to earn a regular gem. However, it has plenty of difficulty all its own: The physics are now the same across all three games, making some challenges significantly harder than they once were, and Crash has a pill-shaped hitbox that can result in him slipping off of edges. Time Trials have been added to the first two games, bringing a whole new challenge to the already difficult games. Two new levels, Future Tense and Stormy Ascent were added as DLC, both extremely challenging... the latter of which was a dumied ''Crash 1'' level removed for being too difficult. ''Too difficult for the game that is generally considered the hardest in the series''.
* ''Franchise/SpyroTheDragon'': While the second installment of these series is comparatively easy (unless you go for Skill Points), the first and the third parts aren't actually to be beaten to 100% and higher status by children under 10. The starting moments may be easy (although some players may be gameovered in the first worlds), but sidequests and hidden walls/areas may become a pain in the ass (unless you know them all thoroughly). Several enemies may also become these, and again, their attacks are easy to avoid if you've played this game a lot before. But no matter how experienced may you be on these, there are also ''flights'' to be beaten...
* ''Videogame/{{Tomba}}!/Tombi!'' for the [=PS1=]. You play as a pink haired dwarf who lives in a colorful world filled with psychotic pigs and carnivorous venus fly traps. Typically Japanese right? Well, it is in other aspects too - it often relies on timing to get somewhere without being killed, you need certain items (which you equip like an RPG), your life goes down very easily, and there are many occasions where the 2.5D of the game makes it look as if you can go somewhere you can't from that angle, leading to frustration.
* ''VideoGame/{{Plok}}''. You play as a sentient pile of clothing who could RocketPunch, and the graphics were really cutesy. The title character took very few hits to die, the ''enemies'' had MercyInvincibility, and many of them were {{Kung Fu Proof Mook}}s. The bosses weren't exactly a walk in the park either (the first, a DualBoss, was already quite tough). There were also quite a lot of traps and spikes in the game that were hard to traverse... And then you get to the last world...which is ''[[FakeDifficulty wall-to-wall]] InterfaceScrew''.
* ''VideoGame/{{Claw}}'' is bright, colorful, undeniably charming, and fiendishly difficult ''even with the infinite-lives cheat enabled''. In fact, using said cheat is pretty much mandatory if you want to have any hope of completing the game. The code is even listed in the manual, so the developers were probably self-aware.
* ''VideoGame/TheLionKing'' is based on a Disney movie; this'll be easy, right? Well, remember the "Just Can't Wait To Be King" scene from the movie, with Simba jumping from animal to animal? Yep, that's a level in the game. It's as hard as you'd imagine. And it's ''level 2''. They get much worse from there. The following level contains 15-20 enemies that in many games would be mini-boss fights. And you can't save.
** A viral case of someone discovering the game was hard, but for the wrong reasons [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tIy1BwQJq6w is a YouTuber who played the PS5 re-release]] and failed because she showed a clearly unfamiliarity with both platformers and the intuitive design of the 90s - i.e. expecting a tutorial instead of the game's InstructiveLevelDesign.
* ''[[VideoGame/NicktoonsUnite Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots]]'', though not as extreme as the other examples here, is another example of a kid-friendly game which might be too much for its intended target demographic, being pretty much a platformer DeathCourse. Thankfully, DeathIsASlapOnTheWrist there. Here, just look at the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oCd-sfRQnQo penultimate]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xG2cIWmTrLo stage]] (And look at the comments of the second part for a complaint about this trope).
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jfnSqLzUzfM On a special "Making Of" episode]], WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd plays ''Barbie'' for the NES. This sums it up:
-->"It's a game for little girls! I can't make past the first levels!
** WebVideo/JoueurDuGrenier also noted the difficulty when he reviewed the same game.
---> "You'd probably expect this game to be easy since it's a game for little girls. (Looks nervously at his lives counter (which decreases every time he makes a sexist joke)) But no. You alternate between levels that are ridiculously easy and levels that are [[NintendoHard surprisingly tough]].
* ''VideoGame/DewysAdventure'': Don't be fooled by the cute main character; the game will tear you apart if you mess around. Tons of bottomless pits, tough jumps, large groups of enemies, long levels and very low health pickups, and there are no checkpoints, meaning if you die once (Twice if you have the item which revives you when you die), you have to start the level all over again. Let us not even start on getting S ranks...
* ''VideoGame/TheAdventureOfLittleRalph'' seems very child-oriented - after all, it's got a child protagonist. The first few levels are hard, but still pretty standard, but from then on, the game turns NintendoHard. Hazards seemingly pop out of nowhere, catching the player by surprise, and the very last level is pure PlatformHell. It doesn't help that Ralph, the main character, is a OneHitPointWonder.
* Any PlatformHell/Kaizo game. Many of them use default ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' graphics or graphics that look fairly similar to either ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' or ''Franchise/MegaMan'', yet all of them will absolutely '''destroy''' an unprepared player with their insane difficulty. [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=teAqRZX4hbY just look at it]]...
* ''[[VideoGame/CommanderKeen Keen Dreams]]'' - compared to the other games it's less violent and has a less urgent plot. Your raygun is replaced by flower-power, seeds that temporary turn enemies into flowers. It is one the hardest one of the Commander Keen series. The fact that you cannot kill your enemies permanently forces you to be very careful with your ammunition and play as fast as possible to avoid the enemies regenerating. You must effectivly do a SpeedRun and PacifistRun at once. (Only Commander Keen 5 is harder dispite your weapon beeing lethal, but the tougher enemies are simply invulnerable.)
* The NES game ''VideoGame/LittleNemoTheDreamMaster''. Superficially, it looks like a children's game, but this was made by Capcom in the same era as ''VideoGame/MegaMan2'', and it shows.
* ''Super VideoGame/MeatBoy'': The aesthetic is cute, but it's UglyCute, and the game will make you ''feel'' like a piece of meat that's been put through the grinder.
* '''''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet'''''. It's a ''Sonic''-inspired platformer with a girly art style and adorable characters. And it has very few BottomlessPits, CollisionDamage, or MercyInvincibility, this should be a piece of cake! Wait, combat is a big chunk of gameplay? Well okay, simple enough. Wow, the levels are pretty long, and why is the second boss so hard? What do you mean most enemies are spamming BulletHell attacks? Turns out the invincibility goes both ways, and the aforementioned BulletHell attacks will shave off most of your health if you're lucky. And that's without getting into the masochistic Hard Mode, where enemies deal double damage, shields break in one pop, and the bosses are faster and completely randomized their strategies. And playing as Milla gives you a very awkward combat style, with half the health of the other characters. Yeah, hope you don't lose your marbles. This game was hard enough that it received patches that lowered the difficulty, and it is still this trope.
* Like the book that created it, the world of Green-sky in [[Literature/GreenSkyTrilogy Below the Root]] seems pretty easy to manage at first. Then you find out just how difficult it is to jump some of those gaps between broken branches and what happens when you don't ''crawl'' across bridges you've made with your vine rope. You can spend a whole day -- ''your'' day, not game day -- trying to get up into the farheights of Skygrund.
* ''VideoGame/TheNewZealandStory'' is another cutesy Taito arcade platform game in the vein of ''Bubble Bobble'' or ''The Fairyland Story'' and starts off innocently enough... but then the levels become fiendish mazes full of SpikesOfDoom, water areas that give you a very strict time before [[SuperDrowningSkills drowning]] and enemies that countinuously pour out of portals that can appear anywhere. The Mega Drive version, based on an earlier ROM build, is even harder.
* For being an innocuous little game about bouncing cat heads, ''VideoGame/CatPlanet'' gets difficult when it introduces threats that can kill the protagonist. Especially in the last stretch, where you become sandwiched between [[DemonicSpiders crows]] and deadly spikes.
* Despite being one of the games in the "Sega Club" line of games aimed at children under 12, ''VideoGame/BerenstainBearsCampingAdventure'' has relentless enemies and some tricky platforming. Set the difficulty to Grizzly Bear and the game pushes the very limits of NintendoHard.
* ''VideoGame/BlasterMaster Zero'' is unique in the sense that the core campaign is consistently criticized for ItsEasySoItSucks. However, Ver. 1.2 adds a Destroyer Mode, which is unlocked after beating the main campaign at least once. Destroyer Mode looks at the main campaign, jeers in its face, and then breaks it in half over its knee. [[NintendoHard It's that big of a difficulty jump.]]
* ''Videogame/RabiRibi'' may have a cast of {{Little Bit Beastl|y}}ies, including a bunny girl and her fairy companion as the {{Player Character}}s, but don't let that fool you. The bosses are more than happy to subject you to elaborate BulletHell patterns that will cause you to see the GameOver screen many times. In a PlatformGame, so you also have to factor in gravity. Oh, and the game can be [[NewGamePlus looped]] and/or played on unlockable HarderThanHard difficulties if you want even more danger and more thrills!
* ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxter'':
** ''VideoGame/JakIIRenegade'': The [[VideoGame/JakAndDaxterThePrecursorLegacy previous game]] was quite easy few irritating locations notwithstanding, even on HundredPercentCompletion. While this game had higher age rating and much darker atmosphere from the beginning, replacing fairy-tale-like setting in favor of a dystopian future, it still might not be enough of a warning of how hard this game is - PlatformHell sequences (usually while you're being shot at) that are a norm rather than an exception, MarathonLevel races where one mistake costs you a win, missions that have to be done without dying because the counter of everything you need to take down gets reset upon death, numerous infinitely respawning enemies and the fact that most enemies kill you in 4 hits and you ''can't'' upgrade your health greatly contribute to it. And let's not speak of optional missions...
** ''VideoGame/Jak3Wastelander'' also qualifies. after the easy platforming course that opens the game, you then have to complete a shotgun arena challenge against enemies with quick jump attacks that exceed your weapon's range. Oh, and the arena fills with lava, and you start with the base health amount, and your ammo doesn't refill when you die. Unless you ''just'' came off playing ''Jak II: Renegade'', it'll kick the pants off of even seasoned Jak players.
* Those unfamiliar with ''VideoGame/{{Celeste}}'' can be forgiven by its presentation (The official art and music seems like it came from the creators of ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse''). However, the game also tells you to "be proud of your death count".
* ''VideoGame/RugratsRoyalRansom'' will smack you upside the head with how much of a deceptively difficult game it is for a game based on such a kid-friendly series as ''WesternAnimation/{{Rugrats}}''. The game's a cakewalk on the easiest difficulty and fairly challenging but still doable on the medium difficulty. The hardest difficulty, fittingly called "Reptar Tough"? You'll want to take the advice of Tommy Pickles himself and hold on to your diapie, baby, because you're in for several floors of ''pure, unadulterated PlatformHell''.
* You are a blue alien out to save your race from being turned into meat snacks by the [[CorruptCorporateExecutive greedy corporate overlords]] that have taken over your planet. This is the general premise of ''[[VideoGame/{{Oddworld}} Oddworld: Abe's Oddysee]]'', and it sounds innocuous enough. However, once you realize that you are a OneHitPointWonder in a CrapsackWorld where [[EverythingTryingToKillYou just about everything wants you dead]], you'll quickly come to appreciate your unlimited supply of lives. It's hard enough just to play through the game normally. Trying to [[OneHundredPercentCompletion save all of the Mudokons]], though? Be prepared to be subjected to some of the most [[BrutalBonusLevel tortuously difficult secret areas imaginable]], most of which are [[GuideDangIt hidden in the most unintuitive places imaginable]]. Its sequel, ''Abe's Exoddus'', makes things ''slightly'' easier thanks to your ability to work with more than one Mudokon at a time, but it makes up for it by introducing dozens of new and fun ways to get eaten, chopped into pieces, blown to bits, and oh-so-many other creative ways of enacting your demise.
* ''VideoGame/{{Nefarious}}'' may be a game whose gimmick is that you're playing as the bad guy in the big machines fighting diminutive scrappy heroes, but that doesn't mean it will hold your hand. In a sense, this is [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in that you're going up against characters who regularly foil villains like Crow, so they shouldn't be pushovers.

* To some extent, most of Creator/{{Treasure}}'s output falls under this. With their whimsical art style and characters, you might not expect (for instance) ''VideoGame/DynamiteHeaddy'' or ''VideoGame/MischiefMakers'' to be as hard as they are.

* ''VideoGame/{{Battletoads}}'', for the time. Now this game is famous for its difficulty alone, but back then, when the reputation wasn't so widespread yet, you didn't expect a game that had two cute frogs with ridiculously cartoony special moves and colorful stages to be hard.
* Hmm, a third-person actioner/shooter/platformer called ''VideoGame/DarkenedSkye''. Involving Skittles, you say? Probably finish it in an hour. Wow, why am I dying so much? These jumps, especially involving those freakin' sinking lily pads, are HARD, and the enemies are really good shots! What, there are puzzles too?!
* ''VideoGame/MegaManPoweredUp'' may have inflicted the ''VideoGame/MegaMan1'' cast with [[SuperDeformed Super Deformities]], but the difficulty department definitely doesn't slack off, and HundredPercentCompletion for New Style mode ''requires'' you not only to complete every stage on every difficulty, but ''also'' to use every character for each of these difficulties, even characters who [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman clearly aren't suited for certain stages at all]]. And hey, the original NES levels are available for you to tackle too, and they're all in Old Style mode...
* ''VideoGame/{{Flicky}}'' is about a cute mother bluebird trying to save her chicks from hungry cats and iguanas that want to eat them. The levels are only as big as the screen, and are very brightly colored. The chicks don't actually die if the aforementioned enemies get to them (unlike ''VideoGame/ZombiesAteMyNeighbors'')...but Flicky does if she touches a cat, and the cats like to ambush her. And the iguanas can run along any surface at about the same speed as Flicky can run. Flicky can't fly, only jump high. Your only defenses are apples, telephones, cups, and other objects which Flicky can pick up by touching them and throw...but they use the same button as jumping. And there are only so many throwable objects per level. And due to the aforementioned issue, you're likely to waste a lot of them while frantically guiding the chicks to the exit. And the cats and iguanas come back after about 7 seconds even if you do manage to kill them by throwing stuff at them.
* ''VideoGame/CopyKitty'': A bright and lighthearted game about a CatGirl destroying adorable and strange robots in a VR program with tons and tons of StuffBlowingUP. The titular copy abilities give you incredibly explosive and overpowered weapons to play with, causing screen-filling lasers, homing rockets that explode on contact, several weapons that smash walls and enemies alike, the list goes on. And you will need every one of these weapons to get through levels custom-made to take advantage of their limitations and properties, with bosses that can tear the little kitty to pieces if you don't memorize their patterns well. The unlockable Hard Mode takes everything the game's taught you up to this point and puts it all to the test with levels filled with so many explosions and swarms of more powerful robots you'll wonder how you're supposed to fend them off. And the bosses...are some of the most difficult this side of Creator/{{Treasure}} with the creators citing them as a heavy influence.

* ''VideoGame/TheSecretOfMonkeyIsland'' is all fine and dandy until you have to procure a credit note (which requires memorising the turns of the shopkeeper's safe combination that correspond to 'pushes' and 'pulls'), which is one of the trickiest moments in a VideoGame/MonkeyIsland game, and thankfully, the only one of its kind.
* ''VideoGame/ETTheExtraterrestrial'' the reviled game for Atari 2600. Cute movie your kids liked, what could go wrong? Cue even adults ripping their hair out trying to get out of the pits.
* While the setting is dark, the characters in ''VideoGame/HollowKnight'' are adorable bugs. The game is known for being one of the hardest Metroidvania games ever made.
* ''VideoGame/{{Tunic}}:'' What do you mean, this colourful game featuring a cute fox is really a SoulsLikeRPG, complete with stamina management and rock-hard bosses?

* Anyone who underestimates ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBros'' just because it's by Nintendo and filled with their mascots is in for a shock. Yes, [[Franchise/SuperMarioBros Mario]] and [[Franchise/{{Pokemon}} Pikachu]] and Franchise/{{Kirby}} are all there, but they're not only beating the stuffing out of each other, the interplay of attacks, movement, and inherent character traits is extremely detailed. Sure, you can pick a character and probably grasp their concept within 15 minutes, but step up past Normal mode without at least a bit of practice and you can easily end up with Mario shining his shoes with your buttocks.
** The difficulty of the more difficult Challenger Approaching battles in ''VideoGame/SuperSmashBrosUltimate'' became infamous the day the game first came out. In fact, it was made notable as those kinds of battles were attributed to them being set at the 9.0 difficulty. Unlike the previous games in the franchise, where the AI simply [[TheComputerIsACheatingBastard cheats]] at 9.0 without seeing any notable increase in actual skill, the AI in this game is far more competent than before and will constantly dance around the player while comboing them to high percents and teching off walls and ledges at inhuman rates. They still do appear to cheat a little, but cheating aside, they're much more difficult to take on, which can make unlocking fighters outside of World of Light more of a hassle than it needs to be for less-skilled players. Even the dedicated Challenger's Approach mode doesn't help much, as losing here still leads to a cooldown period before the character can be fought again. One of the first launch week patches was forced to tone down the difficulty of these battles after the fandom became too vocal at being unable to unlock certain characters due to how downright hard these battles were.

* ''VideoGame/GianaSistersTwistedDreams'' starts off as a simple cutesy platformer until a certain level where the game stops having mercy and forces the player to go through several segments full of spikes and devilish enemies specifically made to be only avoided with the DualWorldGameplay mechanic while the player still has to be careful with spikes and other hazards.
* ''VideoGame/TheWizardOfOz'' for UsefulNotes/{{Super N|intendoEntertainmentSystem}}ES. [[HitboxDissonance Glitched-out platform and hit detection]] along with just about any kind of FakeDifficulty you can think of, this [[ObviousBeta broken mess]] of a [[TheProblemWithLicensedGames half-century old film adaption]] does everything in its power to make the player feel crippled and helpless in a [[MalevolentArchitecture twisted]], [[EverythingTryingToKillYou sadistic]] world of [[CrapsaccharineWorld brightly-colored hell]]. As WebVideo/TheAngryVideoGameNerd discovered, it's a game that [[http://cinemassacre.com/2008/03/04/wizard-of-oz/ needs to be seen to be believed.]]
* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'' series:
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels''. The series isn't known for easy games, but one theory has this game not released internationally outside of Japan at first because of its difficulty, more than it being a MissionPackSequel. Please note that this is an NES game, so that difficulty is in comparison to the ''original'' NintendoHard games! At the beginning of the game there's [[InfiniteOneUps an easy method to get over 100 lives]]. ''You will need them all.''
** Don't let the bright and colorful graphics, along with characters appealing to kids, fool you in ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy'', ''VideoGame/SuperMarioGalaxy2'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioSunshine''. They have lots of surprise challenges/obstacles that throw off even the most hardened platform gamers. The most famous ones are the challenges presented by the green lumas in ''Galaxy'' and a few of the sub-levels in Delfino Plaza in ''Sunshine'' and of course the FakeDifficulty that is the Green Star hunt in ''Galaxy 2''.
** Nobody who hasn't played the game would suspect that [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvZWxiUfrNo this]] vocal-only version of the original SMB track is the one used on the most fiendishly evil levels of ''Sunshine''. Even worse is that, unlike in most levels of the 3D ''Mario'' games, they're mandatory! Oh, and you have to do them twice each for 100%.
*** At least during the return attempts, you have FLUDD back. Part of the challenge comes from your first attempt being without that hovering ability you've probably been taking for granted up until now.
*** And you will need FLUDD's help for those return attempts, for the additional challenge is a collect-the-coin challenge, [[TimedMission timed]]. And the timer isn't [[OverlyGenerousTimeLimit generous]].
** There's also the classic 2D Mario games, which usually started off easy enough but got insanely difficult as you went along, even though some people underestimate them (and the series as a whole) for being "kiddy".
*** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'' gets downright ''heinous'' in [[NintendoHard the last few worlds]], largely due to much trickier platforming that absolutely will send you plummeting to your death unless your jumps are timed perfectly. And that's not even getting into enemy placement and platforms that are spaced farther and farther apart, requring wider jumps and/or a feather cape.
** Getting through the final world of ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' is a true test of [[TheDeterminator will]] and [[RageQuit patience]].
*** That is provided [[PipeMaze World 7]] doesn't destroy you first. Nine stages. Nine DIFFICULT stages, and two of the most devilishly evil fortresses in the game. World 7 has no [[BreatherLevel breathers]], it starts off tricky and only escalates from there.
** Most players just can't make it through world 8 of the original ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros.'' The later worlds in general are filled with a larger number of enemies, wider pits that demand ''pitch'' perfect jumps not to fall into, and sound-based puzzles requiring guesswork and memorization to solve and progress through some levels.
** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioOdyssey'' starts out fairly easy and lackadaisy, but after you beat the final boss, things change as the new Moons are now much more fiendish to acquire. In particular, the final level of the game, Darker Side, is a marathon gauntlet that lasts over ten minutes, challenges you on almost all of the Captures in the game, and has no checkpoints.
* ''VideoGame/MickeyMania''. As the name suggests, it's a Mickey Mouse game. It's also ridiculously difficult even on its easiest difficulty level.

* ''VideoGame/RocketKnightAdventures'' and its sequel ''Sparkster'' were surprisingly tricky for their level of cutesiness as well.
* ''VideoGame/{{Kirby}}'': Generally, the games were made to be accessible to anyone, including kids and newcomers to gaming. So they're usually rather easy if attempting a casual playthrough. Trying to go for OneHundredPercentCompletion, [[NintendoHard on the other hand]]...
** On standard difficulty, ''VideoGame/KirbysDreamLand'', the very first Kirby game, is very easy. However, if you enter the code to access the harder difficulty level, the game stops pulling punches.
** ''VideoGame/KirbySuperStar'' has shorter stages and more bosses. The [[UpdatedRerelease DS version]] adds even ''more'' bosses and more [[BossRush boss rushes.]]
** ''Nightmare in Dream Land'' lives up to its name, especially with how cheap the enemy respawns could be. And ''Nightmare in Dream Land'' is actually ''easier'' than ''VideoGame/KirbysAdventure'', of which it is a remake.
** ''VideoGame/KirbysEpicYarn'' deserves a special mention because you ''literally cannot die'' in the game, you only lose beads. The difficulty lies in collecting all the beads needed to get a gold medal or even progress to the next levels. Also, the challenge levels can get fiendishly difficult.
** ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheAmazingMirror'' is one of the few cases where just beating the main game is harder than the extra stuff, mainly due to starting out with a low amount of health, enemies being placed in extremely dickish locations, and losing your copy ability after one hit from ''anything''.
** Many ''Kirby'' games have a BossRush in them which can be horrible if you are not good with dodging the bosses' attacks, but that is nothing compared to the horror that is The True Arena, appearing in games following ''[[VideoGame/KirbySuperStar Kirby Super Star Ultra]]''. This is an even harder version of the first BossRush where the enemies have different, more powerful and harder-to-dodge attacks and finishes off with at least one {{Superboss}} which likely comes up after you are completely drained.
** While the base game of ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'' is considered fairly easy by ''Kirby'' standards (even when you're going for OneHundredPercentCompletion), the Wave 3 update introduced Heroes in Another Dimension and the Soul Melter EX difficulty of [[BossRush The Ultimate Choice]], which took it to the other extreme and are among the most ''difficult'' modes ever introduced in a ''Kirby'' game.
* ''VideoGame/DrillDozer'', in which the game stars an adorable little girl with a little adorable robot with drills for arms...but to get 100%, you have to beat levels with platforming so hard you will cry.
* ''VideoGame/LocoRoco'''s cute and whimsical art direction masks its diabolically evil gameplay in the ''Midnight Carnival'' spinoff.

* You wouldn't expect a game with cartoon-style graphics about a boy trying to rescue his dog from monsters to be anything other than an easy kids game, would you? Well, if that game is ''VideoGame/HeartOfDarkness'' for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation, prepare to be surprised. The game is a PlatformHell powered by NightmareFuel.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Croc}}'' games for the [=PlayStation=] are more challenging than you'd think, mainly due to their camera angles and dodgy jumping. Oh and the enemies respawn a few seconds after you beat them.
* For games based on a children's cartoon series, ''WesternAnimation/TinyToonAdventures'' had tons of games that, while averting TheProblemWithLicensedGames, are still notorious for their difficulties.
** The 1991 [[UsefulNotes/NintendoEntertainmentSystem NES]] [[VideoGame/TinyToonAdventures game of the same name]] would chew you up and spit you out. It doesn't help that, unless you have a heart in your inventory, everything [[OneHitKill kills you with one hit]].
** The sequel, ''Trouble in Wackyland'' is comparatively easier for the most part. It helps that that game has a three-heart health bar. However, while Plucky, Hamton, and Furrball's levels are fairly easy to get through, Babs' level, which involves an out-of-control roller coaster, requires a great amount of memorization of when to jump, duck, and flip the car to get through.
** ''[[VideoGame/TinyToonAdventuresBustersHiddenTreasure Buster's Hidden Treasure]]'' for the UsefulNotes/SegaGenesis is also brutal towards the end, notably because of the SpikesOfDoom that instantly kill you, placed under [[TemporaryPlatform disappearing platforms]] in the [[SlippySlideyIceWorld Ice Mountains]].
** The first UsefulNotes/GameBoy game, ''[[VideoGame/TinyToonAdventuresBabsBigBreak Babs' Big Break]]'', is comparatively simple while still having its tough moments, but the second, ''Montana's Movie Madness'', while remaining easy enough for its first two stages, hits this trope in the third with a rocket ship-flying sequence that could give the ostrich ride in ''VideoGame/TheLionKing'' a run for its money.
** ''[[VideoGame/TinyToonAdventuresBusterBustsLoose Buster Busts Loose]]'' for the [[UsefulNotes/SuperNintendoEntertainmentSystem SNES]] has its moments as well, particularly [[ThatOneLevel that]] [[LocomotiveLevel train level]]. It's the hardest level in the game bar-none, and it's [[SchizophrenicDifficulty only the second stage of the game]]...
** ''[[VideoGame/TinyToonAdventuresBustersBadDream Scary Dreams/Buster's Bad Dream]]'' for the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance is a BeatEmUp, and it's about as difficult as any other game in that genre, especially considering that while you do have unlimited continues, you have only one life. Thus, if you die, you start all the way back at the beginning of the stage.
* The little-known Dreamcast game ''Super Magnetic Neo''. It involves playing with a cutesy robot with magnetic powers having platforming adventures and taking on a bunch of cartoony villains led by a baby. Sounds simple enough, right? However, since it's [[FollowTheLeader inspired by]] the ''VideoGame/CrashBandicoot'' games (the Naughty Dog games, mind you)...you better prepare to suffer.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Klonoa}}'' games, even the GBA puzzle/platformers, start out incredibly easy and have a slow, gentle curve...until you reach the last couple of levels in each of them, at which point they become vicious one-way tickets to PlatformHell. And let's not even get to those [[BonusDungeon crazy secret hidden levels...]]

* ''VideoGame/UmiharaKawase'' is a loveable platformer that was based on a surprisingly good physics engine (before Havok was even a concept) involving a rubber fishing line that functions like a GrapplingHookPistol. Up through Field 5, it's pretty straightforward. Field 6 ramps up the difficulty a bit. Pretty much any field thereafter skyrockets into ''completely bonkers'' levels of NintendoHard: A level where you have to grapple across a ceiling to get to the exit...interspersed with patches of ceiling ''that your hook won't stick to''. A boss fight in which you have to grapple your way ''under the stage'' to dodge him, then get back up before his tadpoles nibble you to death...''five times'' (before he self-destructs, you can't hurt him). Levels loaded with (sometimes ''unkillable'') GoddamnBats. Levels with ''[[BottomlessPits no floor]]'' beneath you as you frantically grapple your way to the end. All of this ''[[TimedMission on a timer]]''. This is probably the only game in history to give the player 10 lives to ''start'' with and have it considered ''stingy''. And the ironic thing is that after you get past the learning curve, you realise that all those bits are the ''easy'' parts. Seriously. They're fun. It gets harder.
* The end of ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}''. The very last section of the game has the difficulty curve surge upwards like crazy.
** Here, have a rising lava level, jumping between awkward platforms with this game's finicky and awkward controls; a level style which had previously been avoided in the game. Surprise!
* The cute looks of ''VideoGame/MrGimmick'' for the NES will disguise its tricky enemy and level design. It is actually even worse due to your main weapon being pathetic, and the character having a ''very'' annoying inertia.

* ''Series/TheAddamsFamily'' games for the SNES were just...insane. In the first like most platformers can give you a ridiculous number of lives if you know where to look. However it is probably the only game that expects you to ''use'' them. ''Pugsley's Scavenger Hunt'', completing a single area would take upwards of half an hour (if you knew where to go and how to progress through the levels), you were required to fight a difficult boss at the end of it (by which stage you'd be severely low on lives and energy), and then you got to do the whole thing ''again'' for the other eighteen million items you needed to collect. Oh, and did we mention that you can't save or in any way record your progress? Yeah. This from the TV show that gave us Lurch.
* ''VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet'': Awww, it's a cute little sackboy! Aww, look at him running around with his tongue out! Aww...wait, impact explosives? With jetpacks? And falling stalactites? This isn't cute, this is cruel! You want me to fight bosses now? There weren't any bosses before! And what's this about [[ThatOneLevel a Bunker]]?
* ''Mickey's Ultimate Challenge'':
** Goofy's level where you have to guess which tools are in his toolbox à la ''Mastermind''. In Cake, any tools you guess in the proper position are highlighted green with any in the box but in the wrong place given a red "mouse" icon. Beginning with the second part of Medium and throughout Challenging, you are only given the number of tools in (marked by green "mouse" icons) and out of position.
** Daisy's level also qualifies, particularly on Challenging. You are tasked to match portraits of Disney characters before the castle's torches burn out. As the castle gets darker, it gets harder to see the portraits. It's the only TimedMission in the game.
* ''VideoGame/BlinxTheTimeSweeper'': Cutesy main character? Yep. Charming fantasy worlds to explore? Yep. Is this deceptive at all? YES. If some of the later levels weren't difficult enough, there's also the eighty hidden cat medals (some of which are deviously hidden) to collect, and the Nintendo Hard final boss, who is an absolute nightmare to defeat.
* ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry'':
** It might look gorgeous, and no sane player would expect a game about monkeys collecting [[FollowTheMoney bananas]] to be hard, but worlds 5 and 6 in the [[VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountry1 first game]] cross the line rather quickly into NintendoHard.
** [[PlatformHell The penultimate level and the bonus world, on the other hand...]]
** ''VideoGame/DonkeyKongCountryReturns'' upholds the tradition. You have to wonder if the universe seems to really hate gorillas after playing some of the temple levels.
* ''VideoGame/YoshisIsland DS''. It's a sequel to one of the best loved platform games of all time...and brings back one of the nastier elements: its insane secret level difficulty. Worlds 1 to 3 are fairly easy. World 4 amplifies it. World 5 is a difficulty brick wall, with more spikes in the last two castles than probably the rest of the game proceeding it. Then you get the secret and extra levels. World 4's is doable. World 1 and 2's trap you and force Yoshi to die for every minor mistake, and have [[CheckpointStarvation nigh-on zero checkpoints]]. Worlds 3 and 5's...are PlatformHell incarnate, and you'll need the huge lives stockpile you've collected after a few choice sections cost you fifty or so lives in quick succession.
** The game that started it on the SNES isn't any different either. The game starts off very simple and the crayon-styled graphics may lure players into thinking it's a game meant for babies, but around halfway through the game, the difficulty shoots up greatly as you have to deal with tricky gap crossing using a power up or Yoshi's floaty jump or trying to avoid nothing but spikes, which is [[SpikesOfDoom instant death]]. Going for OneHundredPercentCompletion? The extra levels in each world will make you hurl your controller and swear at a game that just looks too damn cute to be swearing at.

* ''VideoGame/HenryHatsworthInThePuzzlingAdventure'' is a fun little puzzle/platform hybrid that looks like your typical casual game at first glance, but the difficulty curve goes sharply up after the first world, with tricky platforming and tough bosses. The final world in particular contains some of the most challenging platformer gameplay out there, and beating the final boss is an achievement to brag about. And if you're playing [[NewGamePlus Gentleman Mode]], [[PlatformHell all bets are off]].
* ''VideoGame/TheSimpsonsBartVsTheSpaceMutants'' for NES. Maybe nowadays you're not surprised it's NintendoHard since it's a primitive NES platformer, but back then you really expected at least some leniency out of a game based on ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons''. Nope, it's one of the hardest games on a platform famous for hard games.
* Okay, even if ''VideoGame/IWannaBeTheGuy'' is '''never''' considered to be a game for kids, it still fits this trope at least because the difficulty may get really ''surprising'' at times, thanks to the fact that EverythingIsTryingToKillYou. Even the things that are not obvious killers. ''Yet.'' ''IWBTG'' deserves some sort of prize in that, despite over-the-top ridiculous difficulty being the one thing the game is known for, it ''still'' manages to be surprisingly harder than whatever you were expecting when you started.
* While the remake of ''VideoGame/ABoyAndHisBlob'' cuts down on the GuideDangIt moments of the original, and the beginning levels are so easy they've [[ItsEasySoItSucks earned ire,]] everything after World 1 is a guaranteed behind-kicking at least once. The main stages have generous checkpoints to ease the pain ''slightly,'' but the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Challenge Levels]]...don't. Screw up just once? HaveANiceDeath!

* ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky The Legend Of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC]]'' has a bright and colourful artstyle with chibi sprites. And its prequel, and sequels, aren't that difficult, so it can't be that bad, right? ''Wrong''. The game easily rivals most ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' games in difficulty. The game is tough even on Normal, but Hard multiplies enemy stats to such an extent that most people only recommend it for NewGamePlus runs. And that's not even getting into [[HarderThanHard Nightmare Mode]]. To put this in perspective, it's common for players to spend dozens of attempts before you can beat it, and on Nightmare the Prologue's boss is generally considered {{Unwinnable}} (barring extreme luck) if you don't use your resources in a very specific way. Many bosses [[PuzzleBoss use specific tactics that are designed to screw with you]], abuse of the Turn Order Bonuses is required to outlast many chest monsters/sidequest bosses, and [[BossInMookClothing just about everything on the Liber Ark wants you dead]]. Late in the game just when you think the [[spoiler:Enforcers]] are just a bunch of pushovers, [[spoiler:Renne]] will open the fight with an [[LimitBreak S-Break]] that's ''50% instant death to anyone without instant death immunity'', and even ''with'' immunity, she still has good Crafts and a whole bunch of mooks that'll Petrify you and take up several turns before you can so much as heal. Her rematch then has you fight pater-Mater, who has strong attacks and will instantly revive Renne at full health if you try killing her first. Finally, there's [[ThatOneBoss Loewe]], who puts many a {{Superboss}} to shame that can easily one-shot the entire party with the S-Craft he opens the fight with. It's so hard the game lets you progressively retry with weaker stats, and is considered harder than the final boss. Even if [[RandomNumberGod Aidios blesses you]] with less than three clones and doesn't spam [[ThatOneAttack Demon Flames]], he's still ThatOneBoss.

* ''VideoGame/{{Stray}}:'' People who had heard about "the cat game" and were expecting a game about exploration and purring might have been taken by surprise by the threat level posed by the Zurks, and by the fast reactions and precise movements needed to doge them.

* The ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER}}'' trilogy looks simple and cartoony, but all three games have some serious difficulty. ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER|1}}'' consistently goes up in difficulty, although there's a couple of major spikes at Duncan's Factory (due mostly to its size) and Mt. Itoi (the enemies being way harder than anywhere else in the game). ''VideoGame/EarthBound'', despite being much better than its predecessor, had random {{Difficulty Spike}}s throughout the game. ''VideoGame/{{Mother 3}}'' finally settled for a consistent difficulty, and while the regular enemies aren't too bad, the bosses will mash you.

** Many ''Kirby'' games have a BossRush in them which can be horrible if you are not good with dodging the bosses attacks, but that is nothing compared to the horror that is The True Arena, appearing in games following ''[[VideoGame/KirbySuperStar Kirby Super Star Ultra]]''. This is an even harder version of the first BossRush where the enemies have different, more powerful and harder to dodge attacks and finishes off with at least one BonusBoss which likely comes up after you are completely drained.

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsI'', you can get reamed on ''easy'' if you're not prepared for some bosses or are just hitting the attack button (specially in the case of [[BonusBoss Sephiroth]] in the first game, who is probably the hardest boss, but is available way before it can be reasonably expected to beat him). This is especially true in the early game where you can only stock like three potions and don't know Cure, so healing is limited. This continues in all the later games too.

** ''II'' is considered to be easier than ''I''. Even [[BonusBoss Sephiroth]] is debatably easier here than in ''KHI''. That is until you play the ''Final Mix'' version of the game, which offers a fourth difficulty setting that makes it possible to beat the entire game ''at level one''. Even if you manage to beat the (even harder) [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsChainOfMemories Absent Silhouettes]] and the Data Organization XIII superboss battles in the BonusDungeon and you think there's nothing else that could possibly top that, there's still the Lingering Will. Get this: At level 99, endgame MinMaxing, the [[InfinityMinusOneSword Decisive Pumpking]] or the [[InfinityPlusOneSword Ultima Weapon]], Normal/Easy mode and [[HPToOne Second]] [[HeroicSecondWind Chance]]; he ''will'' kill you if you don't know how to approach him. Not even Sephiroth was this extreme.

* ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsInTheSky The Legend Of Heroes: Trails in the Sky SC]]'' has a bright and colourful artstyle with chibi sprites. And its prequel, and sequels, aren't that difficult, so it can't be that bad, right? ''Wrong''. The game easily rivals most ''Franchise/ShinMegamiTensei'' games in difficulty. The game is tough even on Normal, but Hard multiplies enemy stats to such an extent that most people only recommend it for NewGamePlus runs. And that's not even getting into [[HarderThanHard Nightmare Mode]]. To put this in perspective, it's common for players to spend dozens of attempts before you can beat it, and on Nightmare the Prologue's boss is generally considered {{Unwinnable}} (barring extreme luck) if you don't use your resources in a very specific way. Many bosses [[PuzzleBoss use specific tactics that are designed to screw with you]], abuse of the Turn Order Bonuses is required to outlast many chest monsters/sidequest bosses, and [[BossInMookClothing just about everything on the Liber Ark wants you dead]]. Late in the game just when you think the [[spoiler:Enforcers]] are just a bunch of pushovers, [[spoiler:Renne]] will open the fight with an [[LimitBreak S-Break]] that's ''50% instant death to anyone without instant death immunity'', and even ''with'' immunity, she still has good Crafts and a whole bunch of mooks that'll Petrify you and take up several turns before you can so much as heal. Her rematch then has you fight pater-Mater, who has strong attacks and will instantly revive Renne at full health if you try killing her first. Finally, there's [[ThatOneBoss Loewe]], who puts many a BonusBoss to shame that can easily one-shot the entire party with the S-Craft he opens the fight with. It's so hard the game lets you progressively retry with weaker stats, and is considered harder than the final boss. Even if [[RandomNumberGod Aidios blesses you]] with less than three clones and doesn't spam [[ThatOneAttack Demon Flames]], he's still ThatOneBoss.

* Most games in the ''VideoGame/{{Atelier}}'' series are hit with this (except for those on [=PS2=], which are more traditional [=JRPGs=] and look the part). The series has a {{Moe}} aesthetic and tends towards SliceOfLife stories instead of epic, fate-of-the-world quests, but those expecting to have a relaxing time are in for a shock. If you don't master the complex ItemCrafting mechanics that the series revolves around, enemies will quickly become much more powerful than you can handle. And in many of these games, you also have a [[TimedMission time limit]] that prevents you from experimenting and messing around too much, or [[AntiGrinding relying on level grinding to make up for your equipment]]. The protagonists are all {{Item Cadd|y}}ies who deal most of their damage by throwing limited-supply bombs, which in most games are replenished by crafting (consuming more of your limited time). Once you found the right balance between crafting and exploring, the {{Bonus Boss}}es are there to ruin your day, posing a NintendoHard challenge that will annihilate any player that doesn't have the best possible equipment.

* ''VideoGame/UmiharaKawase'' is a loveable platformer that was based on a surprisingly good physics engine (before Havok was even a concept) involving a rubber fishing line that functions like a GrapplingHookPistol. Up through Field 5, it's pretty straightforward. Field 6 ramps up the difficulty a bit. Pretty much any field thereafter skyrockets into ''completely bonkers'' levels of NintendoHard: A level where you have to grapple across a ceiling to get to the exit...interspersed with patches of ceiling ''that your hook won't stick to''. A boss fight in which you have to grapple your way ''under the stage'' to dodge him, then get back up before his tadpoles nibble you to death...''five times'' (before he self-destructs, you can't hurt him). Levels loaded with (sometimes ''unkillable'') GoddamnBats. Levels with ''[[BottomlessPit no floor]]'' beneath you as you frantically grapple your way to the end. All of this ''[[TimedMission on a timer]]''. This is probably the only game in history to give the player 10 lives to ''start'' with and have it considered ''stingy''. And the ironic thing is that after you get past the learning curve, you realise that all those bits are the ''easy'' parts. Seriously. They're fun. It gets harder.

* In the same vein as ''Crash Bandicoot'', ''VideoGame/SpyroTheDragon'' series come in play. While the second installment of these series is comparatively easy (unless you go for Skill Points), the first and the third parts aren't actually to be beaten to 100% and higher status by children under 10. The starting moments may be easy (although some players may be gameovered in the first worlds), but sidequests and hidden walls/areas may become a pain in the ass (unless you know them all thoroughly). Several enemies may also become these, and again, their attacks are easy to avoid if you've played this game a lot before. But no matter how experienced may you be on these, there are also ''flights'' to be beaten...

* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBrosTheLostLevels''. The series isn't known for easy games, but one theory has this game not released internationally outside of Japan at first because of its difficulty, more than it being a MissionPackSequel. Please note that this is an NES game, so that difficulty is in comparison to the ''original'' NintendoHard games! At the beginning of the game there's [[InfiniteOneUps an easy method to get over 100 lives]]. ''You will need them all.''

** ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'': Due to the open world nature of these games and the lack of level scaling, many challenges will be absolutely brutal if you choose to take them on early. However, even if you stick to the level curve many of the gyms can be pretty challenging. As far as gym challenges go, most players will come across at least one they thought was pretty tough. Though the difficulty REALLY gets amped up with the Team Star bosses, who all send out a Revaroom as their last Pokemon, though it's not a Revaroom so much as a giant Pokemon-powered vehicle that has a Revaroom strapped to the front for some reason. These things soak up tons of damage and give back just as much, and it'll likely take multiple Pokemon to bring down even when you have a type advantage.